Wednesday, 2 January 2013

GAZA CITY (Ma’an) -- Israeli forces detained a Palestinian at a border crossing from the Gaza Strip who was seeking medical treatment in Jerusalem, a human rights group said.

Rafiq Ayesh Abu Harbeed, 38, went to the Erez crossing for an interview with Israeli intelligence on Tuesday morning, in order to seek treatment outside Gaza for a herniated disk, the al-Mezan Center for Human Rights said.

Late Tuesday afternoon, Harbeed's family in Beit Hanoun were informed that he had been detained by Israeli authorities. Israeli officials could not be reached for comment on Harbeed's detention. more

OCCUPIED JERUSALEM, (PIC)-- The Israeli municipal council in occupied Jerusalem started to re-distribute dozens of demolition orders to the Palestinian natives in Arab neighborhoods and towns in the eastern part of the city.

Tawfik Ghazzawi, one of the natives who received demolition notices, told the Palestinian information center (PIC) that he was surprised one morning to see Israeli municipal employees sticking a renewed demolition order on the wall of his house in Sahel neighborhood of Attour district.

Ghazzawi noted that his house is composed of two floor apartments, one has been closed by an Israeli municipal court in 2007 until he obtains a permit and the other is where he lives with his family of 12 members.

"About 10 years ago, an administrative demolition decision was issued against my house in 2002 and the municipal court forced me to pay a fine regularly during the past years, and until last September I continued to pay the fine, but as I just finished paying the fine, the Israeli municipality hastened to put a new demolition order at the pretext of unlicensed construction," he elaborated.

The citizen pointed out that he and the residents of his neighborhood had submitted a project plan for their area to obtain the required permits in accordance with the law and regulations in place, but the municipal council declined the plan and "this time" at the pretext that their area is green and uninhabitable.

According to Ghazzawi, Sahel neighborhood contains 24 homes and all its residents received demolition notices years ago, but because of these renewed demolition threats, they have become exposed once again to displacement and court trials in order to force them to leave the area and later build settlement outposts on the ruins of their homes. more